ACADEMIC CONCEPT PAPER

“Leveraging on Mobile Payment Methods to gain Competitive Advantage by local based businesses’’

Introduction
Mobile payment methods have popularity with big businesses operating in large towns and
cities across the world. These payment methods enable the business customers to access their
cash at the point of sale and do not need to have physical money to complete their
transactions. This study will therefore help in understanding the mobile payment methods
preferences for the local based business and how and why these preferences have failed to
prevail. The research will therefore address that gap that is viewed as the low uptake of mobile
payment methods by the local based businesses which are essentially operating in remote
areas. This concept builds upon the various insights that have been undertaken by various
researchers in the business and information technology field to bridge the gap of strategic
implementation of information technology systems in business to gain competitive advantage.

Need for this Study

It is estimated that more than 5 billion people have access to mobile phone devices and that
out of this figure about a third of the population is based in local areas. Further, the
village-based businesses do not have immediately access to the physical money banking
system as they are located kilometers away. Porter (2011) notes that in order for businesses
to achieve and sustain superior performance, they must be able to implement systems that
are competitively superior. Budree and Williams (2013, September) and Namada (2018)
established that the areas with large number of low-income earners experienced low uptake
technological advancements and businesses in these locations are not keen on leveraging on
technology. The concept will therefore be intended to identify the salient factors that local
businesses can apply in leveraging on mobile payment methods to gain competitive advantage

Background
Several studies have concluded that mobile payment methods is one of the major factors
put in place by businesses in gaining competitive advantage, however this has also, not been
achieved in remote areas. As a result, Onyango et al. (2014) in their study on mobile phone
technology and the evident performance of micro and small enterprises, concludes that there is
an impact on the use and implementation of mobile phone technology to achieve the full
business performance. In order, therefore to achieve competitive advantage, Porter (2011)
advises that the strategy implemented should be geared towards achieving full potential
competitively. Many scholars therefore agree that there is a significant relationship
between mobile payment methods and gaining competitive advantage to sustain an improved
performance. Most also argue that the mobile payment method of use will be dependent on
the location and nature of need. The handbook by Namada (2018) notes that the concept of
organizational learning must be down-
 trotted to the local businesses to learn which mobile technology suits their operations and how
this technology can be leveraged to achieve competitive advantage. The literature and
conclusions from the scholars however fail to answer specific questions that related to
leveraging on mobile payment methods to gain competitive advantage for local based
businesses. Most of the studies were focused on businesses and companies in towns and cities
with the area of interest majoring on performance whether competitively or not. This study will
therefore be focused on the factors of consideration for leveraging on mobile payment
methods to gain competitive advantage by local based businesses

Objective
The research paper seeks to achieve its general objective of leveraging on mobile payment
methods to gain competitive advantage by focusing on the following specific objectives:
1. To determine the influence of perceived risks on the use of mobile payment methods to gain
competitive advantage by local based businesses.
2. To determine the influence of M-Payment characteristics (mobility, reachability,
convenience, and compatibility) on the use of mobile payment methods to gain
competitive advantage by local based businesses.
3. To assess the influence of personal innovativeness on use of mobile payment methods to
gain competitive advantage by local based businesses.

Research Questions
4. Does perceived risks influence the use of mobile payment methods to gain competitive
advantage by local based businesses
? 5. Does M-Payment characteristics (mobility, reachability, convenience, and compatibility)
influence the use of mobile payment methods to gain competitive advantage by local
based businesses?
6. Does personal innovativeness influence the use of mobile payment methods to gain
competitive advantage by local based businesses?

Methodology
The study intends to use cross sectional survey design in determining the leverage on
mobile payment methods to gain competitive advantage by local based businesses. The study
will sample 478 local based businesses registered in Kenya out of a population of 4 thousand
which are mainly registered and operated in village area settings. The study will collect both
primary and secondary data, and the quantitative data generated will be analyzed using
descriptive statistics which will include percentage distribution, mean and the frequency
counts. The qualitative data from the study will undergo transcription and reported in themes
and sub-themes. The relationship between the independent and dependent variables will be
explained through multiple regression.
Reference
Porter, M. E. (2011). Competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior
performance. simon and schuster.
Namada, J. M. (2018). Organizational learning and competitive advantage. In Handbook
of Research on Knowledge Management for Contemporary Business Environments (pp. 86-
104). IGI Globa
Budree, A., & Williams K. H. (2013, September). Factors influencing the uptake of mobile
banking in developing countries: A case study of M–Pesa in South Africa. In Proceedings of 22nd
Internafional Business Research Conference (pp. 9-10).
Onyango, R. A., Ongus, R. W., Awuor, F. M., & Nyamboga, C. (2014). Impact of adoption and
use of mobile phone technology on the performance of micro and small enterprises in Kisii
Municipality Kenya. World Journal of Computer Application and Technology, 2(2), 34-4